1000s of staff face anxious Christmas as FITs forces cuts

Cuts to Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) have forced Carillion to consider redundancies in its renewable energy arm.

The decision means 4,500 staff face an anxious 90 day wait as the company consults on potential job losses.

Carillion said it could not 'speculate' on how many people will be affected at this time.

The construction giant only created its energy arm in April this year when it bought Eaga and rebranded it as Carillion Energy Services (CES).

Carillion have laid the blame for the potential job losses squarely at the Government's feet saying plans to streamline its overall business will have to be broadened to its new renewable energy division.

A spokesman for carillion said: "Our solar business was growing strongly, but we expect the Government's plans for much larger and earlier than expected cuts to FITs to reduce the size of the Solar PV market significantly.

"Solar PV is only part of CES's business, which remains focused on energy services markets that continue to offer strong prospects for growth.

"Until the consultation process is complete it is too early to speculate on how many people will be affected, especially as we will explore all opportunities for redeployment."